The Ten Detox Commandments

My book Everyday Raw Detox provides simple solutions to clean eating. The idea is to incorporate clean food into your diet as best suits your lifestyle. We don't all live in the same climate with the same body type, nor do we have the same resources. To prescribe one diet for everyone is virtually impossible.The goal is to eat healthy as much as you can.Below is what I call the Ten Detox Commandments—ways you can eat (and behave) every day. I really swear by these rules and definitely practice what I preach!The Ten Detox Commandments

1. Water plus lemon. Before you do anything in the morning, have a glass of filtered water with lemon. One lemon in one liter of water is a great way to get moving first thing (liter- ally). This is the best thing you can do for yourself. Sleep is very drying and the water with lemon is a powerful boost of hydration plus vitamin C. This is our number one routine.
2. You’re not a turkey. Don’t stuff. People love to “stuff” themselves full. Full of greens or full of junk food—it doesn’t matter. Don’t stuff. When you stuff yourself you are stretching your stomach, your blood sugar gets out of whack, you torture your digestion, and you add stress to your body and lines to your face. If you are eating something heavy, eat less. Chew slowly, and savor. If you start practicing awareness when it comes to the quantity of food you eat, it will change your life. You may have heard the old advice, eat until eighty percent full. Well, you heard it again, eat until you are eighty percent full. Stuffing yourself full of healthy food won’t make you healthy. Our idea of portions is terribly skewed. Please don’t supersize me. Thanks.
3. If you aren’t hungry, don’t eat. Sometimes people feel like they need to eat when they aren’t hungry. If you aren’t hungry, it is often your body’s way of telling you “give me a break.” Skipping a meal won’t kill you. These mini fasts can be very beneficial to your health. Airplane travel and other nutritional wastelands are great places to eat less and drink more water. Of course we advise this within reason. If you are underweight or have a nutritional deficiency, consistent nutrition is very important. Please use good judgment.
4. Move. Yes, exercise is important. This doesn’t mean that you have to go to boot camp seven days a week. Moderate exercise or just moving around more can make you feel so much better. Next time you are hungry, tired, and crabby—stretch up high and then bend over to touch your toes. You will feel a jolt of new energy.
5. Don’t eat fake food. We could steal the phrase, “Eat Real Food, Mostly Plants” and ok…we will. This is the best advice. Substituting vegan this and gluten-free that is not detoxifying. Eating more fruits and vegetables is. Incorporating more fruits and vegetables into your diet is the key. Fake meat for real meat isn’t necessarily healthy.
6. Use silverware. This might sound crazy as part of the Ten Detox Commandments, but it's true. When you eat with real silver, you tend to eat more slowly, thoughtfully, and carefully. Stabbing food with a flimsy plastic fork does not have the same mental satisfaction that eating with a proper service does. Eating with silverware also eliminates eating in the car, on the subway, while walking, and other various ways that we see people awkwardly eating.
7. Embrace the ritual. So much satisfaction comes from awareness. Being in the moment when you consume is important to health and happiness.
8. Don’t eat if you have to go. Go where? To the bathroom. If you have to go to the bathroom while you eat, you cannot judge how full or satisfied you are. You will eat faster and uncomfortably. People actually do this.
9. Schedule snacks. Snacking within reason can be very helpful in maintaining a healthy diet. Becoming ravenous and overeating is definitely not healthy, but grazing all day long doesn’t give your body time to digest or properly metabolize. It may seem ridiculously obvious, but keeping a few almonds or an apple around is a great balancing snack.
10. Take a seat. Take the time to sit down and eat your food. All of the above will be much easier if you take a seat.